442 Mr. D. A. Bannerman on the African [Ibis^ 



he examined, and wrote (I.e. p. 920): "Examples from 

 Angola are larger tiian those tVom more northern loi;alities, 

 and show in this a vergence toward true adsiitiUis, but they 

 appear to he undoubtedly nearer divaricatus." I agree with 

 Oberholser that the birds from Senegal, Senegambia, Nubia, 

 and Somaliland seem to be the same as those from German 

 East Africa and the Zambesi River, so that the name of 

 divaricatus Lichtenstein, based on specimens from Sene- 

 gambia, becomes available for this race. 



I am by no means so certain that the Angola birds are 

 best included with the northern form, for although birds 

 having wing-measurements of only 128 mm. are found 

 there, yet when an average is taken it is distinctly higher 

 than the average wing-measurement of D. a. d'u'aricutus. 

 However, taking into consideration the geographical distri- 

 bution of certain African forms which show a tendency to 

 stretch from East Africa through Rhodesia into Angola, 

 I have united the Angola birds with the North and East 

 African race. 



I would also mention that from East Africa 1 have found 

 two skius, one from Tati in southern Matabeleland and the 

 other from the Limpopo river, with Aviiigs measuring 

 139 mm. ; although in the district inhabited by divaricatus 

 these two examples, if examined without prejudice, can only 

 be refei'red to the large Soutii African race, D. a. adsimitis. 



Thus in both West and East Africa the " lumper ^^ can 

 undoubtedly make out a good case for uniting D. a. divari- 

 catus with D. a. adsimilis. 



I^he attached table will assist future workers to determine 

 which course they prefer to follow. For my part I consider 

 the forms are best kept separate, and the entire group is 

 now arranged in the Bird-Room collection on the lines laid 

 down in this short monograph. 



3. Dicrurus adsimilis adsimilis. 



Curvus adsimilis Bechst. Latham, Allgem. LTebers. Vilgel, 

 ii. 1794, p. 362— Type locality: South Africa. 



Chief characters. Entire upper paits glossed with blue. 

 Size large. Wing-measurements 130-141 mm. (for average 



